The triple helix in developed countries: when knowledge meets innovation?

This paper deals with innovation viewed through the triple helix model as a milestone in the contemporary society of knowledge-based economies. Our goal is to empirically investigate the (in)efficient utilisation of academia, industry and government as three helices in order to boost innovations. Therefore, we construct a sample of 30 developed OECD countries with data covering the period from 2006 to 2018 and set up an input-oriented BCC data envelopment analysis that employs variables with non-negative average values over the entire period to calculate their efficiency scores. Our estimates from the radial models show that countries could reduce their inputs by a mean value of 11.9 per cent and keep their level of innovations in the triple helix model and by a mean of 5.8 per cent on average in the extended quintuple helix model. We find higher total inefficiencies in the non-radial models, which amount to 25.3 per cent on average in the triple helix model and 21.8 per cent on average in the quintuple helix model. The breakdown of the inefficiency score for different inputs reveals that countries have the largest potential for reducing CO2 emissions and the least room to reduce the Education Index and Civil Society Participation.

Patterns of Interdependence between Financial Development, Fiscal Instruments, and Environmental Degradation in Developed and Converging EU Countries.

Environmental risks, in particular climate change and environmental pollution, are among the key challenges faced by modern governments nowadays. Environmental risks are associated with specific costs and expenditures necessary to mitigate their negative effects. In this context, the financial system plays a significant role, particularly the public financial system, which allocates and redistributes public resources and has an impact on market participants by imposing environmental taxes. This study assessed the interdependence between environmental degradation and public expenditure, financial sector development, environmental taxes, and related socioeconomic policies. The aim was to diagnose and define the relationship between environmental degradation and sustainable fiscal instruments used in the financial system. The original research approach adopted in the study is the inclusion of variables representing a sustainable approach to assessment of the financial system. Two groups of European Union countries were analyzed for the period 2008-2017, namely, converging economies from Central and Eastern Europe and the largest developed economies of Western Europe. The authors found a strong relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and fiscal instruments, especially expenditure on research and development, and the development of the financial sector. In the case of environmental taxes, their impact differed depending on the country, being predominantly beneficial in countries with higher greenhouse gas emissions but unfavorable in countries with lower emissions levels.

Generalised framework for multi-criteria method selection: Rule set database and exemplary decision support system implementation blueprints.

This data article describes the analysis of 56 MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis) methods in regards to 9 decision-making problem characteristics structured into 3 levels. The impact of uncertainty in decision-making problem description on MCDA method selection is studied. 450,000 possible descriptions of a decision problem were studied, resulting in sets of rules which can serve as input to uncertainty-aware MCDA method selection decision support systems. Comprehensive analyses of the obtained rule sets are provided. An exemplary decision support system based on the presented data was created and is available at http://www.mcda.it. Moreover the technical documentation needed to create and expand such system is provided in this data article. The data and system can be easily extended and the authors invite all researchers to contribute.